The proposed research investigates processes in lauguage comprehension and memory within a new theoretical approach which emphasizes the relationship between the sentence as a source of information and the properties of the listener's knowledge system. The sentence is not merely a linguistic object to be analyzed and stored in some abstract form; it provides information which the listener automatically relates to relevant knowledge contexts and manipulates through use of logical and other inferential operations. The result is a constructed semantic representation which serves as the basis for later remembering. Two groups of developmental studies will investigate: (1) semantic integration (the synthesis of information distributed across sentences into a holistic semantic representation), and (2) the incorporation of logical operations into spontaneous comprehension and memory processes once these operations are available for conscious problem-solving activities. A third group of studies is directed toward the formulation of a model for processes involved in the false recognition of sentences which were not actually presented but were inferred from presented sentences.